Trot-lines have long been used in fishing to provide a line having a multiplicity of hooks spaced along the line. All of the hooks may be baited and the line may be submerged in a stream, lake or other body of water to increase the chances of catching a multiplicity of fish. The ends of the line may be connected to anchors or to shoreline objects such as trees. From time to time, the trot-line may be pulled out of the water to remove fish which have been caught and to rebait the hooks.
Trot-lines are difficult to handle, to store and to reel with conventional reeling equipment, because the hooks and the leaders tend to become tangled with each other and with the main line. Sometimes a trot-line becomes so badly tangled that it is useless and has to be discarded.